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Species of conifer

Calocedrus decurrens, with the common names incense cedar and California incense cedar (syn. Libocedrus decurrens Torr. ), is a species of coniferous tree native to western North America. It is the most widely known species in the genus, and is often simply called incense cedar without the regional qualifier.

Calocedrus decurrens is a large tree, typically reaching heights of and a trunk diameter up to The largest known tree, located in Klamath National Forest, Siskiyou County, California, is tall with a circumference trunk and a spread. Specimens form a broad conic crown of spreading branches. The bark is orange brown weathering grayish, smooth at first, becoming fissured and exfoliating in long strips on the lower trunk on old trees. Specimens can live to over 500 years old. This has given the incense cedar a competitive advantage over other species such as the bigcone Douglas fir in recent years. Incense cedar is more shade tolerant than Douglas fir, but not as much so as grand or white fir. It grows slowly when needed to outlast competition. Fire scars provide an entry point for Tyromyces amarus (pocket dry rot). According to the United States Department of Agriculture, in areas of the Western Sierra Nevada in California, numerous species of birds are thought to use the incense cedar as a "foraging substrate" so that they can attain as much food as needed. A Northern California tribe used branchlets to filter out sand from water when leaching toxins from acorn meal; foliage also served as a flavoring.

Calocedrus decurrens is cultivated as an ornamental tree, for planting in gardens and parks. It is used in traditional, xeriscapic, native plant, and wildlife gardens; and also in designed natural landscaping and habitat restoration projects in California. It is valued for its columnar form and evergreen foliage textures. The tree is also grown in gardens and parks in cool summer climates, including the Pacific Northwest in the Northwestern United States and British Columbia, eastern Great Britain and continental Northern Europe. In these areas it can develop an especially narrow columnar crown, an unexplained consequence of the cooler climatic conditions that is rare in trees within its warm summer natural range in the California Floristic Province. Other cultivated species from the family Cupressaceae can have similar crown forms.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, and has the cultivar 'Berrima Gold'.

Various species in the family Cupressaceae can be utilized for the creation of essential oils. Scientific studies have shown that these essential oils have "strong antimicrobial properties." Antimicrobial properties are those properties of a substance that lower the levels of microbes, such as bacteria and viruses. These antimicrobial properties could potentially be used for therapies in developing countries, although more testing and clinical trials should be done before such measures are implemented.